Mumbai, Notwithstanding the Covid-19 challenge, Tata Group's ready-to-eat food biz is readying plans to scale up operations and enhance product portfolio to reach all the tier-I cities in the country.

Tata SmartFoodz, a part of Tata Industries, commercially launched the ready-to-eat brand "Tata Q" in November 2019.

"Our initial focus is on the top seven cities. Then, perhaps, we will enter the next tier of cities," Balark Banerjea, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Tata SmartFoodz, told IANS. "We are scaling up operations in a phased manner," he said.

At present, Tata Q products are available in select geographies, such as NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Pune and Chennai.

According to Banerjea, e-commerce has exponentially increased the reach of the business, especially in the Covid-19 era. "Consumers are placing a premium on convenient and accessibly priced options in the RTE and RTC space," Banerjea said.

The company's processing facility in Sricity, Andhra Pradesh, is fully operational. Currently, it offers 12 recipes across pastas, noodles, rice dishes and combi meals.

The size of the domestic ready-to-eat market is Rs 250 crore.